I will finish what you started
by hidethespider
Summary: What if a young Ben Solo learns that his friend is in danger from a threat larger than anyone could fathom? He realizes that to beat the darkness one has to beat it at its core. This is the story about how he sets off on a journey to finish his grandfather's destiny. But of course sacrifices have to be made on the way, sacrifices which may irrevocably damage the young man for ever.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note:

 _ **Okay, so I haven't uploaded in a while, but now I am back finally with my first story outside of the Harry Potter universe. Another universe that I love is Star Wars, and with the DVD/Blu Ray release of TFA very recently it's been occupying my mind a lot. I love Star Wars, and while I was skeptical to the new film back in december because of Disney and everything I must say I really liked it, and it's just become even better the more I watch it. There was one character in particular that caught my interest, an extremely well written character with lots of conflict inside - Kylo Ren.**_

 _ **Then I stumbled upon Courtoon's theory on Youtube**_ _ **(/b-eFFvKqbM0)**_ _ **which was a very interesting perspective and which inspired me to write this story. The story in itself is mine as far as fanfiction goes, because I wrote it. All canon characters belong to Disney/Lucasfilm.**_

 _ **I appreciate all kinds of constructive feedback. I only publish my works because I want to learn from it and get better. English is not my first language so I aplogize in advance for any mistakes. Fell free to correct me anytime.**_

 _ **And also, a final thing. This story includes things that are both canon at present and things that are now known as legends within the SW-universe. I will be honest and say I don't even know a small portion of the entire EU. I try to do at least the most essential research but sometimes things might also be completey made up as I go along, because I haven't found an explanation for something or I don't know what to do with it or how to interpret. Bear with me on that, please.**_

 _ **Now, on to the story...**_

* * *

"Ben!", a small voice called out with all its power the same second I entered the academy. A tiny being ran towards me and jumped up into my arms. "I missed you, Ben", she said. I laughed and brushed some of her hair away from her eyes. "I missed you too, little one. What have you been up to?"

"Master Luke has been teaching us.. medication", she said proudly. She made me laugh yet again. "Medication you say? Are you sure you don't mean meditation?"

"That's what I said", Rey argued and made a movement to get back on the floor, so I sat her down. There was no point arguing with her, I knew that was a battle I could never win. She had a real mind of her own that tiny little being.

"I have a new doll", she said and grabbed my hand. "Your father gave it to me. You father's very nice. It's a pilot doll, with a rebel suit. It is orange, like the one master Luke used once in the war. It's very cool. Do you want to see it?" She was so excited about finally getting to show me her new doll that she had not taken one breath when she told me about it.

"I would love to, Rey, but I do need to speak some words with Luke first. I'll come and see you afterwards, okay?" Her excited little face took a disappointed turn and she looked down on my shoes. I sunk down to her level. It hurt me to see her disappointed in me. I never wanted her to be disappointed in me. She was like the sister I never had and I wanted her to be happy, always. "I'll hurry." I whispered before standing up.

I had promised I would report to Luke how my first mission, accompanying mother on one of her diplomatic trips, went. I had not been the main source of protection for her obviously, since I was far from completely trained, but Luke had said it could be a good experience for me to come along and see how a guard duty was laid out, because I wanted to specify my jedi training to go into idividual protection.

When I approached uncle Luke's door to the office I found that it was opened just a tiny crack. I recognized my father's voice in there as well as Luke's. I heard him tell my father something about "She has twenty six thousand of them. The highest known count before her was twenty thousand, and you know who that was and how that went." I could not for the world figure out what that meant, and even though I was a curious being for sure, I knew better than to eavesdrop on a jedi master who knew my presence before I even made it known.

"Hello Ben", he called from the room, and I opened the small crack completely and walked in to my uncle's office. "Hi son", dad said with his trademark crooked smile and waved. "How was the trip? How's your mother?" Uncle Luke put a hand on my shoulder as a greeting, but dad did not. He never did things like that. While mother could be affectionate and hugging me a little more than I would prefer sometimes, dad was the exact opposite. He never showed me any kind of physical appreciation. No pats on the shoulder, never hugs. Not that I cared… but still. He only had one son after all. I bet he would not even notice if I disappeared. Well… neither of them would, I suppose. I hardly ever saw them anymore since they sent me off to this academy to train with Luke. Today had been a very rare occurrence. I sighed inwardly but smiled on the outside.

"Mom is just fine, and it seems like her mission was successful. They were very open to the possibility of joining the new republic, and some negotiations were held and are expected in the capital next month for further discussions." I said indifferently. It was not really my business to figure out what diplomatic discussions were about. I had been there to watch my mother's bodyguard's work. "She is in quite a hurry back though, to report to the senate. She is waiting in the Falcon, so you should probably go to her." I told my father. He nodded, tousled my hair qickly and said "Bye, kid" before he left to go back home to Coruscant.

"And how was your part of the trip?" Luke persisted. "It was fruitful. The guard's gave me a lot of strategies and practical tips. That combined with force sensitivity might actually make something good eventually," I said. "I hope", I added.

My uncle smiled calmly. "Excellent, that is just what I wanted to hear. All gained experiences will help you in the future, you know that." I nodded. "You may go now, enjoy your day off. You training continue at seven o'clock tomorrow morning." He said and sat down looking at a few documents on his desk.

Just before I turned to leave I stopped in my tracks, remembering the small piece of a conversation I had overheard. "Uncle, may I ask…" I started. He raised his hand and only said "Don't." Of course he knew what occupied my mind at that particular moment. "Whatever it is, it's about Rey, right?" I continued. "I can sense it."

My uncle looked up at me from where he sat, scanning my face. "You are indeed very strong with the force, Ben, if you can sense who it is about without even knowing what it is about."

"I can sense it every time Rey is at any sort of risk or when she is sad. I don't know why, it's just something there. I can't quite put my finger on it." This apparently shocked the jedi master who always carried his calm around him.

"Is that true?" he asked, carrying a contemplating expression on his face. "That usually happens to force sensitive individuals with some kind of connection between them, like a family relationship or between a jedi-master and padawan. In a few rare cases it's happened between individuals where both are particularly strong with the force. Perhaps that is what has happened between the two of you. I will look into it," he concluded and returned to his documents. I took that as my cue to leave. I found myself being disappointed in how he had nudged away the subject that I had really wanted to ask him about.

I went out into the corridor, with my head spinning from what I had learned during my conversation with Luke. It was not just a weird coincidence that I always managed to know when Rey was sad or hurt. There might actually be something more going on. I realized the conversation had taken longer than I had planned. I had a girl to visit and a doll to see. I increased the pace.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/n: If you're reading this it probably means you have read the first chapter as well, so thank you for that, it means a lot! Again I just wanted to say that I have not yet read Bloodlines or finished the entirety of the FA-novel, so most of this is just made up as I go. It might go against what is canon sometimes, while other times it follows. I try to do some basic research though for things I don't know, but sometimes I just find an angle that I like that can't be supported by canon so I just write it ayway. Please, just take it for what it is. Thank you!  
**_

Chapter 2.

I was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the side of her bed. Just one moment ago I had begun hearing snores from the little girl and had closed the book about a young pilot who got lost and was trying to find her way back to the capitol. Rey idolized any female pilot, fictional or real, and it was her greatest dream to become one herself one day.

Before I had started reading and again as soon as I had put down the book my mind was constantly occupied with what I had heard my uncle talk about a few days past. She had twenty six thousand of them.. twenty six thousand of what..? What did it mean? I had spent every waking moment that I had not been with Rey, trying to figure out what it meant, seeing as it seemed to be of great importance and most certainly concerned Rey herself. I had literally been scanning every book in the academy's library trying to find clues, but to no avail. Whatever it was uncle was hiding, he hid it well. It was obvious he was aware of my curiosity ever since I had mentioned my ability to sense Rey in the force, and didn't want me to know.

It bothered me heavily that everyone seemed to treat me like a child most of the time, like I could not be told important things, like mom and dad and my uncle were always intentionally talking above my head. I felt like ever since they had told me about whom my grandfather was they were walking on eggshells around me – like they were afraid I could become like him. They didn't have enough trust in me to be completely sure that I would never turn to the dark side. What a messed up family I had been assigned in the genetic lottery…

I put the book back onto Rey's little book shelf, next to the pilot doll my dad had given her and stood up. For a moment I thought about turning in myself, but decided to lurk about the corridors a little while longer in the hopes of finding someone to eavesdrop on to perhaps find out something more about the subject that had been keeping me up for days. Thoughts of it had even distracted me during meditation exercise the other day. If I kept on loosing focus like that uncle look would know very soon how much time and effort I put into this and it would be even more difficult finding new information, I was sure. I needed to be more careful, I decided.

The problem was that Luke would probably know every step I took outside of my room and know I was up to something. I needed to try and get information from someone who wasn't a jedi and was without the force. I suspected even mom would figure me out if I tried anything with her as she had seen through most of my force tricks ever since I was a toddler. Dad… of course. He was so clueless to everything that had to do with the force that even I – a twelve year old jedi padawan with short training – could probably trick him to reveal something. I needed to get him alone, without my uncle finding out. That was the only way.

I just wanted to try one more thing before I went to sleep and turned my steps towards the library which I had seen more of than my bedroom in the last few days. I was aware of the fact that Rey was unique in the way she connected with the force in such a young age. There were no records of anyone ever being as powerful as she was predicted to be, but it had hit me just a moment earlier that my grandfather had been quite a unique case himself when he was younger. That was something my mother had told me when I was a little boy and had asked things about Anakin Skywalker (before I knew he and Vader had been one in the same). If I could find some old records of my grandfather from his younger jedi days then perhaps… I could discover something that he and Rey has in common, that might give me at least a small clue of where to continue my search.

Finding records of Anakin was more difficult than I had expected though. Even when I had gone into the republic archive database the material was scarce. If there had been any data about Anakin, I realized it was very probable it had been diminished during the imperial era, in an attempt to erase his past. The only record I was able to find was a small confidential notice from the jedi council talking briefly about what had happened when Anakin had turned and the battle between him and his master on Mustafar. It was not much, and I was none the wiser after I had read it.

Suddenly I heard footsteps and tried to quickly but discreetly close the record. "What are you doing?" I heard my uncle's voice say when he entered the room. I tried to look as unaffected as possible by his sudden presence. "Reading", I said nonchalantly and flipped through another less suspicious document about the clone wars.

I felt his stare piercing through me, like he tried to enter my mind. "You were reading about Anakin…" Luke started. "Why?" It was no use lying to him, but I did not want to feed his suspicions either. "Curious." I short answered him yet again.

"You grandfather was a good man once, you know. When he was a little boy the most important thing to him was winning a pod race. But the older he got the burden of his fate that he carried on his shoulders became heavier. He felt like he could not talk to anyone about his problems and kept things bottled up inside him until he finally exploded. It was anger and fear that brought him to the dark side… But you know you can talk to me or your parents about anything that bothers you, right?"

I turned away from the screen and glared at my uncle. Always the suspicions… what was that even about? _Why were they constantly so afraid of me?_ Mom and dad sent me away to Luke because they did not trust me enough to keep me with them at home, and then I come here and Luke does not trust me either. What's wrong with this family, seriously? Trust issues level hundred.

"I am just reading out of curiosity. Just because I am trying to learn more about my heritage does not mean I have secret plans to walk in his footsteps. I am twelve years old! Why can't you all just stop nagging me constantly? What have I even done for you all to have absolutely no faith in me?" I snarled as I stood up, the chair making a rasping noise against the floor from my rapid motion. I grabbed my notebook form the table and left the room. Since I had started my jedi training I had become much better at keeping my mood swings under control and suppress any anger that inhabited my mind, but this time I didn't even care and I think I had a legitimate reason to be irritated now. I slammed the door loudly for effect after I had entered my room. For hours I tossed and turned in my bed, trying to calm myself down enough to be able to fall asleep, but I couldn't. Eventually I sat up, putting my face in my hands trying to breathe slowly.

Then I heard a knock on the door and felt a sudden sensation of calmness and composure enter my mind as the handle was being pulled down. The person who stood before me in the doorway then was not even tall enough to reach it, yet she had without any effort used the force to open it. "Are you sad?" she asked in her softest voice, her most caring voice. She walked into the room and sat on the floor in front of me. "I don't like when Ben is sad, because then I feel sad."

At that moment it struck me that it was not just I who felt the connection between us, but her as well. Just as I could sense any disturbances in her mind, she could sense when things bothered me and that's why she had come to my room in the middle of the night to calm my senses. She stood up again and yawned, hugged med hastily and left the room just as quick as she had appeared in it.

Despite our age difference, she was the best friend I had ever had. She was such a tiny being with such an innocent heart and the only one who never judged me or feared me just because my grandfather was Darth Vader, but liked me just because I was plain and simple Ben Solo.

 _At that moment I realized that I would always do everything in my power to keep her safe and happy, even if it would be the death of me._ After she had left it took just about a moment until I had fallen into a peaceful and comfortable sleep.


End file.
